EVEN A LITTLE BIT IS ILLEGAL: INDEPENDENCE MAN FOUND GUILTY OF POSSESSION

An Independence man was in court Thursday for a jury trial, charged
with possession of "not enough marijuana to get your cat high" in one
observer's opinion.

James O. Reed, 38, was found guilty of possessing 0.01 grams of
marijuana. Reed was stopped for speeding on Mo. 13 on Jan. 10, 2001,
by Cpl. Dan Wohnoutka of the Highway Patrol. He testified that he
smelled marijuana in the car, and his search turned up a tiny shred
clinging to the front of Reed's shirt.

A few loose marijuana shreds were also located on the floorboard.
Wohnoutka said Reed admitted he had been smoking marijuana earlier in
the day.

"No, it wasn't a bale of marijuana," said Assistant Prosecutor John
Adamik during closing arguments of the first trial he has conducted
on his own from start to finish. "But nothing in the law says it's OK
to have just a little bit. Nothing says it's OK as long as it's all
smoked up before you get pulled over."

Public Defender Jennifer Moore argued that the amount of marijuana
found was so small that Reed could not have known it was there.

"The officer looked and looked and looked, and that's all he found,"
Moore said. "You're asking for a criminal conviction for something
found on the floor of the car, and who knows how many people have
been in that car?"

The jury deliberated for only 45 minutes before returning with a
verdict of guilty, but the group was unable to agree on what the
punishment should be. They originally recommended 30 days in jail,
the sentence requested by the prosecution; but when the defense asked
that the jury be polled, the third juror questioned said he had a
problem with the decision.

"I think 30 days is too long, but I'll go along with it," he said. "I
don't want to be the only one holding things up."

Because the law requires a unanimous verdict, Judge J. Michael Brown
sent the jury back to deliberate again, but they were still unable to
agree on a sentence. There is a provision in the court rules that
allows the judge to set the sentence as long as the guilty verdict
was unanimous, and that was the option finally chosen. Judge Brown
scheduled sentencing for May 29 following a pre-sentence
investigation.

Was it worth all the bother and expense of prosecuting a person for
such a small offense? Prosecutor John Porter believes the answer is
yes.

"The law says it's illegal to possess any amount of marijuana,"
Porter said. "If people think it's truly a waste of time to prosecute
on small amounts, they need to write their legislators and get the
controlled substance law changed. Right now, possession of less than
35 grams of marijuana is a class A misdemeanor - that's the same as a
second offense DWI. That's how important the legislature thinks this
is."